The EU Commission is taking a close look at Germany because of its large surplus in the current account. The Brussels authority announced in 2019 an in-depth investigation into the grievance that had been complaining for years.
The surplus means that Germany exports more goods and services than it imports, which is met with criticism from trading partners. From the point of view of the European Commission, this endangers economic stability in Europe in the long term.
With the in-depth examination, the EU Commission now wants to officially determine whether such an imbalance exists. In addition to Germany, the procedure also affects twelve other states where imbalances could also exist in economic relations with other EU states.
These are Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Greece and Romania.